Kevin Nealon On 'Man With A Plan', Stand-Up Comedy & Johnny Carson

(CBS Local)-- While many people know Kevin Nealon as a TV and movie actor, all he ever wanted to do was stand-up comedy. The co-star of "Man With A Plan" has been in the stand-up comedy game for over 35 years and is back at Caroline's On Broadway in New York to perform this weekend. Stand-up will always be Nealon's first love.

"I love stand-up because it's what I started out doing even before the acting came along and Saturday Night Live," said Nealon in an interview with CBS Local. "I never stopped doing it for almost the last 40 years and I love it.

Nealon is best known for his stint on Saturday Night Live from the late 1980s into the 1990s. The former Weekend Update anchor now hangs out with Matt LeBlanc on CBS's hit sitcom "Man With A Plan." Nealon has a tremendous amount of experience in the TV world, but didn't have much with sitcoms before this program.

"I don't have a ton of experience with traditional sitcoms, I've done a few of them, but they didn't last that long," said Nealon. "This one has been a great experience. The writers are great and the show is really funny. Matt LeBlanc is so intuitive, smart and insightful when it comes to sitcoms. He knows structure and characters and knows when the scene is not working. He watches out for everybody and knows everybody's lines."

In addition to his work on CBS, Nealon also hosts a YouTube series called "Hiking With Kevin" where he hikes with his celebrity friends in California. These experiences produce a natural high for the actor, but it doesn't even come close to the feeling he had when he performed on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson for the first time in the 1980s.

"That was the highlight of my career to this day, even more so than Saturday Night Live," said Nealon. "I remember it like it was yesterday. It was such a monumental time for me because I had been doing stand-up for six years. I had never been so nervous. I walk out to my spot on that shiny black floor and I forgot my act. I couldn't remember how it started. The last clap dies down and then I remembered it."